Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Nonstop Christmas music on Magic 106.7/WMJX captured the ears of Boston radio listeners as Greater Media’s adult contemporary station to the top of the latest Nielsen Audio radio ratings.

Figures released last night showed Magic in first place with a 9.1 percent share of all Boston area listeners and a cumulative weekly audience of 1,454,800 for the December survey period which ran from November 6 to December 3. In the previous survey, the station ranked second with a 1,243,600 cume.

Marking its 3rd consecutive year as “Boston’s Christmas Station,” Magic 106.7 flipped the switch on November 21(BRW 11/21). The station is once again expected to finish first in the current “Holiday” survey which is running from December 4 to December 31st.

Following Magic in overall audience were: iHeartMedia’s Top 40 king pin WXKS/Kiss 108 with a 6.4 share, Greater Media’s WKLB/Country 102.5 and Classic hits WROR 105.7 tied for 3rd with 6.0, CBS Radio’s news/talker WBZ/NewsRadio 1030 was 5th with 5.6, sports talker SportsHub 98.5 was 6th with 5.2 and classic rocker WZLX 100.7 came in 7th with 5.1. 8th place went to Boston University’s pubcaster WBUR 90.9 with 4.6. Entercom’s WEEI/Sports 93.7 was 9th with 4.1 and Iheart Media’s Top 40/Rhythmic Jamn 94-5/WJMN rounded up the Top 10 with 3.7 share.

BRW Notebook:

Ins and Outs : Loren and Wally’s longtime sidekick Tom Doyle was let go from their morning show on WROR 105.7 in late November...One local story to keep an ear on in 2015 is WEEI 93.7's afternoon drive situation. There are rumblings that Glenn "Big O" Ordway may return. The latest fall ratings show Sports Hub's Felger and Mazz comfortably in the lead while "Dale and Holley" with recently added Jerry Thornton trailing. Holley's contract expires in February and Arnold is currently working without a contract...The other programming story that involves WEEI is their hefty Red Sox deal. This winter, the station's ownership has to decide if it will pick up an option to air Sox radio in 2017 and 2018 seasons....Walt Perkins has exited WBZ 1030 as its weekday morning sports anchor, a role he held since February 2009(BRW 2/6/09). Perkins worked at WBZ since 2001. He has been replaced with Adam Kaufman who works weekends at WBZ 98.5 The Sports Hub...While everyone in radio keeps coming and going, WBZ 1030's morning co-anchor Deb Lawler just celebrated her 30th anniversary at the station...After a 2-month family leave, Tom Ashbrook will returnto WBUR 90.9's midday On the Point on January 2nd...

And finally, as we wrap up 20th year of Boston Radio Watch, Happy and Healthy 2015 to all of you!